Outgoing FSSAI chief Yudhvir Singh Malik kept in the dark about his transfer

NEW DELHI: The outgoing chief of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) Yudhvir Singh Malik has suggested that he was completely in the dark about his shift to Niti Aayog, the latest in a growing list of bureaucrats to be taken by surprise by sudden transfers.

Malik, who has been at the FSSAI for just about a year, was transferred late on Tuesday and will take up his new position as an additional secretary in the Niti Aayog on Thursday.

Asked by ET how he came to know about his transfer, he said: "Never ever in my 30-year career have I been called by someone and asked if I have been transferred. I said, 'I don’t know’."

He declined to comment on possible reasons for his transfer, especially if it was his hardline stance during the Maggi noodles controversy, which cost him his job.

Malik, a 1983 batch IAS officer of Haryana cadre, was the man behind the ban of Nestle’s popular noodle brand Maggi for having higher than permissible levels of lead, and faced opprobrium from the food industry, especially the multinational food companies, for the manner in which the FSSAI went about its business.

The FSSAI also drew fire from within the government too, with Union Food Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal criticising it for fostering an "inspector raj" that put at risk companies’ expansion plans and defeating the Modi administration’s Make in India initiative.

Malik declined to comment when asked if pressure from multinational firms had anything to do with his transfer, only saying he would take up his new role with dedication.

Representatives of five industry associations CII, FICCI, ASOCHAM, PHD Chamber and AIFPA, whose members include top domestic producers and the Indian arms of international food and beverage makers such as Britannia, Coca-Cola and Mondelez, had raised concerns at a meeting with the health secretary, to resolve the "crisis" sparked by the Maggi ban. It is understood the ministry of food processing, PMO and other ministries wanted issues related to food safety and standards to be resolved at the earliest.

FSSAI, which comes under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, had banned Swiss-based Nestle’s Maggi noodles in June, stating that the snack was ‘unsafe and hazardous’ after its tests found the presence of lead above permissible limits and flavour enhancer monosodium glutamate. However, the ban was later lifted by the Bombay High Court.